Business Unit:
Financial and Valuation Advisory
Industry:
PV - Portfolio Valuation
Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) is a global investment bank with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory. Houlihan Lokey serves corporations, institutions, and governments worldwide with offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. Independent advice and intellectual rigor are hallmarks of the firm’s commitment to client success across its advisory services. The firm is the No. 1 investment bank for global M&A transactions under $1 billion, the No. 1 M&A advisor for the past eight consecutive years in the U.S., the No. 1 global restructuring advisor for the past nine consecutive years, and the No. 1 global M&A fairness opinion advisor over the past 25 years, all based on number of transactions and according to data provided by Refinitiv.
Houlihan Lokey has established one of the largest worldwide financial and valuation advisory practices. Our transaction expertise and leadership in the field of valuation inspire confidence in the financial executives, boards of directors, special committees, retained counsel, investors, and business owners we serve. In 2022, Refinitiv (formerly known as Thomson Reuters) ranked us the No. 1 U.S. M&A fairness opinion advisor over the past 24 years.
Our stability, integrity, technical leadership, and global capabilities make us a trusted advisor for clients worldwide, across a wide range of services, including Transaction Opinions, Transaction Advisory Services, Corporate Valuation Advisory Services, Portfolio Valuation & Fund Advisory Services, Real Estate Valuation & Advisory Services, and Dispute Resolution Consulting.
Houlihan Lokey’s PV practice is well-recognized and regarded in the alternative asset valuation community. In 2022, the PV Practice received the HFM US Hedge Fund Services Awards in which Houlihan Lokey was named “Best Valuations Firm for Hard to Value Assets,” its sixth time receiving this award and fifth consecutive win. We also received this same honor in Europe in 2023 for the fourth consecutive time. Houlihan Lokey has also received the HFM Asia Hedge Fund Services Award for “Best Valuation Firm,” for the third consecutive time underscoring the outstanding valuation services the firm provides its hedge fund clients around the world.
Scope
Within our Portfolio Valuation practice, our clients include many of the world’s largest hedge funds, private equity funds, direct lending funds, business development companies, among other asset managers, and we advise them on the valuations of illiquid debt, equity and complex securities in order to meet their investor and regulatory financial reporting requirements. Our market-leading practice has a strong reputation with regulators, auditors, and investors and we rapidly mobilize the right team for the job, drawing on our expertise in a wide variety of asset classes and industries, along with our firm’s real-world transaction experience and market knowledge.
We offer a unique opportunity to work on a wealth of projects that provide exposure to various financial and valuation advisory challenges, including the valuation of complex businesses, securities, and transaction structures. As an Associate in our Portfolio Valuation Practice, you will play a key role on our engagement teams, which typically comprise at least one Managing Director, Vice President, Associate and one or more Financial Analysts. Your primary activities will include valuing debt, equity and structured securities; presenting analyses and conclusions internally to review committees and externally to the senior management and boards of directors of clients and to fiduciaries; designing and drafting client deliverables; constructing and reviewing valuation and other financial models; performing financial statement, industry and other quantitative and qualitative assessments; attending due diligence meetings; communicating with client personnel; assisting with sales and marketing initiatives; and directing the efforts of financial analysts.
Responsibilities
- Supporting portfolio valuation teams, which provide valuations of illiquid debt and equity securities held by hedge funds, private equity funds, and business development companies in connection with fair value reporting of the funds’ assets to investors.
- Assisting in the preparation of fee proposals to clients, including scoping discussions, pitch materials, and internal engagement pricing committee memoranda.
- Participating in deal team brainstorming discussions, preparing information request lists, designing, and drafting client deliverables.
- Reviewing client investment memoranda, board of directors’ presentations, specific debt and equity agreements, and financial models to develop an understanding of the company or securities being analyzed.
- Directing the efforts of financial analysts and checking their work product to ensure the delivery of an accurate and thorough work product within the required timeframe.
- Reviewing and compiling published financial information, such as public company filings, press releases, reports from published research analysts, and Bloomberg data across a wide range of industries and sectors.
- Assisting in the preparation of pitch materials and information request lists to clients.
- Participating in telephonic and in-person due diligence meetings/discussions, communicating with clients and responding to auditor questions regarding valuation analyses prepared by Houlihan Lokey.
- Identifying relevant comparable public companies and M&A transactions within parameters established by FVA project teams, based upon information services such as S&P Capital IQ and Bloomberg, along with knowledge of the appropriate Standard Industrial Classification and other methods, as appropriate.
- Researching and providing information on (a) general economic conditions, (b) industry-specific conditions and trends, (c) acquisitions and divestitures within specific industries, and (d) various investment attributes of publicly traded and privately held securities.
- Compiling statistical summaries of companies’ financial information, developing, and computing financial ratios, and presenting the analyses in an organized manner and/or using our standard formats and presentations.
- Constructing and reviewing valuation and other financial analyses, including the guideline public companies, guideline precedent transactions, and discounted cash flow analyses, using Houlihan Lokey proprietary models.
- Presenting valuation analyses and conclusions internally to review committees, externally to our clients’ senior management and boards of directors, and to fiduciaries.
- Performing financial statement analysis and other quantitative and qualitative assessments.
- Assisting in presenting valuation analyses and conclusions internally to review committees.
- Performing other ad-hoc research, analytics, and support for the FVA project teams as required.
- Coordinating with internal administrative support teams to prepare engagement invoices, working paper files, and other compliance/end-of-engagement close out procedures.
- Participating in discussions with in-house and outside legal counsel as required.
- Assisting with marketing initiatives for prospective and existing clients.
Qualifications
The environment at Houlihan Lokey is collegial and entrepreneurial and, as such, rewards Associates with substantial responsibility and interaction with senior-level professionals and clients. The ideal candidate thinks strategically, is motivated, detail oriented, creative, outgoing, and possesses strong quantitative skills.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree (in Finance a plus)
- Minimum of 3-5+ years of valuation experience
- Strong analytical abilities
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Excellent understanding of financial statements analysis with the ability to work through key assumptions, implicit caveats, and limitations.
- A fundamental understanding of financial valuation theory, methodologies, and applications.
- Strong knowledge of Excel modeling.
- Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively with team members.
- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
- An exceptional work ethic.
- Experience at Big Four or an Independent Valuation Advisory firm a plus.
Salary Range
Houlihan Lokey is committed to providing its employees with an exciting career opportunity and competitive total compensation package, which may include other components such as discretionary incentive compensation. The firm’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the possible salary range for this role at the time of posting is:
$100,000.00-$160,000.00
Actual salary at the time of hire may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant qualifications, skills, and experience, as well as the service line and location where this position may be filled.
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
